Did you find what you were looking for?
Find what you were looking for?
Help us improve AI search results by giving your feedback (3-5 mins).
Minister McEntee and Minister Richmond mark World Humanitarian Day
- Published on:
- Last updated on:
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Helen McEntee TD, and Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, Neale Richmond TD, have today marked World Humanitarian Day by calling for a sharper focus on accountability for violence against humanitarian workers.
Minister McEntee said:
On World Humanitarian Day, we need to draw attention to the increasingly complex and dangerous circumstances in which so many aid workers operate today. When conflict and disasters strike, those who deliver life-saving assistance should never be targets. Despite this, 2025 was the second-most dangerous year to be an aid worker on record after 2024, with 334 aid workers killed in 2025 alone.
The horrifying rate at which humanitarians are being killed demands a response. Accountability is a key means of providing justice, promoting respect for international humanitarian law, where it applies, and deterring future violations. Ireland joins the call to Act for Humanity, to protect the lives and dignity of those living in conflict and crisis settings and ensure the safety of the humanitarian and medical personnel responding to their needs.
Minister Richmond said:
Every day humanitarians are being killed, injured, arbitrarily detained, arrested or intimidated, while their work is increasingly criminalised and subject to misinformation. Local and national staff are the majority of victims and survivors of attack, often with the least protection. In signing the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarians at the UN last September, I made a political commitment, on behalf of Ireland, to take action to improve the safety and security of humanitarians, including action to align the protection of local, national and international personnel.
In Brussels this October, Ireland and the European Commission will host a major international conference on the Protection of Aid Workers which will centre the voices of local humanitarians and discuss practical steps to support their safety and security needs.
Ireland provided over €330 million in humanitarian aid in 2025, as humanitarian needs rise and humanitarian organisations continue to face a funding crisis.
In 2026, Ireland is continuing to respond to large-scale humanitarian crises, including in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, alongside many less visible crises and sudden onset emergencies, including the recent earthquakes in Venezuela.
The United Nations has identified 239 million people in need of humanitarian assistance across the globe. World Humanitarian Day aims to pay tribute to humanitarian workers killed and injured while working to provide life-saving support and protection to people who need it most.
ENDS
19 August 2026
Notes to the Editor:
- Irish Aid, the Government’s programme for international development, is an integral part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
- Ireland invested over €330 million in humanitarian aid in 2025. This compares with the same level invested in 2024, €320 million in 2023, €297 million in 2022 and €228 million in 2021. The 2026 total spend is expected to be similar to 2025.
- World Humanitarian Day is marked on 19 August to coincide with the anniversary of the 2003 suicide bomb attack on the UN headquarters in the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 UN staff. Some 150 more people were also injured on that day.
- 2025 saw at least 334 aid workers killed, with at least 55 killed so far in 2026. Over a thousand humanitarian workers have been killed in the last three years.
- Ireland is recognised for its quality humanitarian funding. In line with international best practice, Ireland provides funding that is flexible, predictable and multi-year, allowing humanitarian partners to respond rapidly to evolving needs and volatile security situations. Ireland’s quality funding also provides a strong basis for respectful partnerships with communities, local authorities and local and national NGOs, who are front and centre of the humanitarian response.
- Ireland’s humanitarian assistance is provided by way of bilateral and multilateral aid and is channelled through a range of trusted partners: UN agencies, the Red Cross and Red Cresent family and Non-Governmental Organisations. This includes core contributions to the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency), UNOCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and the IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies).